Johann Jakob Hess (also ''Jean Jaques Hess'';

Freiburg im Üechtland Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, (Fr.

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

), Switzerland, 11 January 1866 – Zurich, Switzerland, 29 April 1949), was a Swiss

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...

and

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logia'') is the archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia (a region that encompassed what is now modern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southea ...

and an expert in other Oriental languages.

Personal life

Hess was born on 11 January 1866, the son of window and door maker Casimir Balthasar Jacques Hess and Josephine-Marie, née Rudolf, in

, (Fr.

), Switzerland. He graduated at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Strassburg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the E ...

in Egyptology, Assyriology,

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

and

Sinology Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to th ...

, working for his Doctoral degree between 1889 and 1891, working as a Privatdozent, teaching

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

and Assyriology between 1891 and 1908 at the Swiss

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

. This teaching position gave him the opportunity of traveling on leave to Egypt and

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

for four years settling in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

while doing jobs for the British Survey in the British Bureau in Egypt. He returned to Switzerland in 1918, (Orientalisches Seminar - معهد الاستشراق) being promoted to Emeritus Professor in 1936, aged 70. He was married twice and died at Zurich on 29 April 1949, aged 83.

Some published works by Johann Jakob Hess

*''Beduinennamen aus Zentralarabien''. Heidelberg: Winter, 1912 . Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften: Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse; Jg. 1912, Abh. 19. *''Von den Beduinen des inneren Arabiens''. Zurich, Niehaus Ed. 1938, 177 pages. Edit.: Lieder, Sitten & Gebräuche. *''Der demotische Teil der dreisprachigen Inschrift von Rosette''. In German. ( en, The demotic language side of the three languages inscribed in the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancien ...

). Universitaets-Buchhandlung, B. Veith, 1902 - 99 pages. Available at the Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, dated 1888. See: http://trove.nla.gov.au/book/result?q&l-decade=188&l-language=Egyptian DemoticScriptsRosettaStoneReplica

References

* http://www.ori.uzh.ch/isap/isapchecklist.html * Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 28. Mai 1949; Obituary notice * Histoire de l'Université de Fribourg, Suisse. 1889–1989, 1, 1991, 67, 116, 119; 3, 1992, 954 f. * L. Stäger, "Jean-Jacques Hess-von Wyss. 11. Januar 1866 bis 29. April 1949", ''Asiatische Studien'', Bern 22 (1968), 137–145.

Personal life

Some published works by Johann Jakob Hess

References

Further reading